Madhu Knits and Cooks

Will I Have This Cookbook Forever? Madhur Jaffrey Instant Pot Gingery Tomato Chickpeas with Nigella Seeds

Nigella seeds are underutilized in our kitchen.  Originally purchased for a reason I don't remember, I seem to have used them only twice - for a Balaboosta crispy kale recipe and nan-e barbari. 

Yum, I should make nan-e barbari again.  

Moving to the present, with the Madhur Jaffrey Instantly Indian Cookbook trapped in my home due to our warranted public library shutdown, I had the opportunity to try her Chickpeas in a Gingery Tomato Sauce.  Without a doubt, the dish's best feature was the fragrant nigella seeds.  But the dish could have easily stood without them - that's how delicious this gingery, lightly acidic and velvety dish tasted.

Unlike most Instant Pot recipes, this was laborious in that Jaffrey calls for removing the chickpea skins before cooking them in the sauce.  I may omit this step the next time I make this dish.  I will also follow my standard soaked chickpeas Instant Pot cooking time - 12 minutes - instead of her 3 because the chickpeas were incredibly undercooked at 3 minutes.  

The other three modifications I made to the recipe were to 1) cook only 1/2 cup of chickpeas, which resulted in more than enough for 2 - 3 meals; 2) use leftover tomato pizza sauce for the ~1/3 cup of pureed tomatoes called for; 3) substitute lime juice for lemon because it's what I had at home.  Those recipes aren't necessary for future versions, but they worked well which points to the versatility of this recipe.

Two Madhur Jaffrey Instantly Indian Dishes - Muslim-Style Masoor Dal and South Indian-Style Green Beans

Not being able to return library books has meant that I've started to experiment with recipes I wouldn't otherwise try from Madhur Jaffrey's Instantly Indian Instant Pot Cookbook.  Both of the these recipes - Red Lentils Cooked in a Muslim Style and Green Beans Stir-Fried in a South Indian Style - seemed too simple to use a formal cookbook, but I would make them again.

I halved the Musalmani Masoor ingredients, and was able to quickly cook the dal in the Instant Pot while separately sautéing the onion, garlic and dried red chiles to add to the final, lightly mashed cooked dal.

The dal was lightly fragrant from the onion, chile and garlic, and a very simple dal to serve on the side of future meals.  

The beans I modified by omitting the Instant Pot entirely, and pre-cooking them in the original plastic package for 4 minutes before sautéing them on the stovetop with the required spices.  The beans were overcooked so in the future I will pre-cook them for 2 - 2.5 minutes.  They did have a lovely flavor from the mustard seeds, urad dal, and chile though, so it was a nice spice blend to repeat (omitting the lemon juice, which I didn't have).

Fourth Time's a Charm - A Sichuan Eggplant Success!

How I dread seeing raw eggplant.  It fills me with fear and sadness because I have never been able to successfully prepare it at home.

Cooked eggplant though I thoroughly enjoy seeing on my plates at restaurants and other's homes. 

I have tried, tried, and tried again to master eggplant at home, but each time resulted in failure or close to it. 

Well, past failures be darned!  When I saw some long eggplant at the grocery store recently I decided to be bold and try this dish again.

I decided to alter my approach, and followed an Omnivore's Cookbook recipe that called for coating the eggplant slivers with cornstarch before pan frying.

Similar to past recipes I've followed, prior to preparing the eggplant slices, soak the cut pieces in salt water to get rid of excess moisture.

Then pan fry the eggplant slivers until they are well-browned.  I almost stopped cooking the pieces when they had a facial browning on some sides, but the eggplant still tasted undercooked and tough.  I decided to keep them on the heat until they broke down more, resulting in a soft interior and crisper edges - approximately 10 minutes of cooking time.

Then using the same skillet, prepare the sauce before adding the eggplant back in.  

I largely followed the Omnivore's Cookbook sauce approach, which resulted in a cornstarch-heavy gloppy sauce and too much sauce for the reduced amount of eggplant I had (13 oz. compared to 16 oz. called for in recipe).  It was also a little sweet for my taste, though we added ground Sichuan peppercorn to the plated eggplant, which made it much better.  I will probably improvise my own sauce approach moving forward for this otherwise great eggplant dish!  Success at last!

Vegan Thai Green Curry - Third Time's Almost the Charm

I seem to be on an 5-year cycle of attempting vegan Thai green curry, based on my last posts on the topic.  This latest attempt was inspired by Nancie McDermott's Simply Vegetarian Thai Cooking cookbook which I picked up from the library pre-pandemic. 

McDermott's curry approach is to first boil a small amount of coconut milk and then add the curry paste to allow the curry and coconut flavors to bloom and better influence the final dish.

It's been so long since I last made Thai curry that I can't tell if this approach made a difference to the final flavors, which I still found a little bland for my tastes.  I've made this recipe twice in the past few weeks.  The second time, I quadrupled the curry paste (~4 tbsp.) and added some diced green chile which did make a noticeable, but not complete, flavor improvement.  

I also tried to ensure the tofu took on more of the curry flavor by layering the cut tofu with paper towels and placing a can on top for as much water to press out as possible.  I placed the can on the tofu for approx. 30 minutes.

The tofu did seem to retain its shape better using this approach, and it may have also absorbed the flavors of the dish more than if the tofu was more watery.  Unfortunately, my lack of traditional tofu prep in recent years is fogging my memory on how much of a difference this approach made!

I decided to improvise my own vegetable add-ins, and selected red bell pepper, onion, and carrots.  I added the carrots in when I added in the tofu and coconut milk, and I added the bell pepper and onion after the curry had been boiling for about 10 minutes.

I added another dash of soy sauce at the end to add more flavor to the dish, so I think moving forward I will probably double the amount of soy sauce to 2 tsp.  Finally, I also think that the carrots were a bit overcooked, so moving forward I will probably cook the tofu in the boiling curry for 5 minutes, then add the carrots for another 5 minutes, then the bell pepper and onion for the final ~5 minutes of cooking to make sure each cooks the appropriate amount.  

I still need to figure out how to nail a green curry flavor and not coconut milk-forward Thai green curry.  Stay posted for my next attempt in 5 years!

Simple Weeknight Black Beans in the Instant Pot - A Tasty, No Pre-Soak Approach

I generally pre-soak dried beans before cooking them, even with the Instant Pot, because I find it leads to a more evenly cooked set of beans.  Milk Street though recently posted a Instant Pot Black Beans recipe that does not require a pre-soak, so I decided to try it to see if it would result in a good, weeknight-only bean dish.

I've made a modified, quartered amount recipe twice so far, and have been pretty satisfied with the result.  The beans are nicely salted, and have a mildly acidic tang from the tomato and onion that cooked down into the bean broth.  

The modifications I have made to the recipe are to use a regular tomato in place of the cherry / grape tomatoes, and rather than use a head of garlic with the top third severed, I've used the peeled, whole cloves of approx. 1/4 a head.  

The one modification I do not recommend you make is reducing the cooking time, even if you are halving or quartering the recipe as I did.  The beans need a full 35 minutes to cook, as I learned from my first effort to cook at 32 minutes.  You can serve these beans as a standalone side or incorporate into meals how you desire.  Below is how I used these beans in loaded vegetable tostadas.  Enjoy!

Broccolini Pasta with Garlicky Breadcrumbs - Satisfying, Multi-Textured Dinner

While I have a go-to broccoli rabe with pasta recipe, as readers of this blog know, I get bored easily and always want to try new approaches.  

Enter Milk Street's Orecchiette with Broccolini.  While I didn't have orecchiette, I was intrigued by their garlic-infused panko breadcrumbs and cooking the broccolini, which I was able to procure instead of broccoli rabe, separately from the pasta for presumptively deeper flavor.

The result was fantastic.  In contrast to our standard approach, the garlickly breadcrumbs added a great flavor and texture to the pasta and the sautéed broccolini remained crunchy.  The final dish was also less oily than our standard approach, which I appreciated because it made the pasta seem healthier and less heavy / fatty.  I also omitted a shaved parmesan topping because the dish was so good on it's own!

I modified the proportions of the dish to accommodate the 10 oz. of pasta I had and slightly less than one pound of broccolini.  I used 3 cloves of minced garlic and 3 cloves of sliced garlic, and reduced the pasta cooking / sauce water to 4.25 cups, which may have been too much (more on that below).  I also omitted the anchovies because I am vegetarian, and didn't notice it's omission at all.

You start by preparing the garlicky panko breadcrumbs.  Simply cook the garlic in olive oil in a medium pot, and then stir in the breadcrumbs until they are fragrant and lightly browned.

Then cook the chopped broccolini in the same pot.  Despite the multiple cooking steps for this dish, it's use of only one cooking pot and relatively short cook times makes this a weeknight appropriate meal.

And then yes, in the same pot used for the panko and the broccolini, bring a relatively small amount of water to boil before adding the pasta.  As stated above, I reduced the 5 cups called for in the recipe to 4.25 cups for my 10 oz of pasta.  I should have reduced the water further to 4 cups because I ultimately had to cook the pasta and sauce for longer at the back-end to evaporate additional water, leaving my pasta slightly overcooked.

Then toss with the breadcrumbs and serve.  Yum!

Parsley, Arugula and Scallion Salad - Interesting Way to Liven Up a Salad Side Dish

Lots of arugula in the fridge with no idea what to do?  Surprisingly, my first stop wasn't CooksIllustrated.com, but instead Chris Kimball's post-CI venture, Milk Street.  I am not sure what drew me to the recipe I chose - Parsley and Arugula Salad with Lemon and Sesame - but the result was interesting enough to replicate again.

That being said, I didn't exactly follow the recipe.  I omitted the lemon zest entirely, reduced the juice to that which comes from ~2/3 of a medium lemon, and substituted cebolla for the scallions.  Finally, I didn't want a salad that was mostly parsley, so I reduced the parsley to about 1 cup from the 3 called for in the recipe.

This recipe proved itself to be a great guide though in that my improvised result was quite tasty.  A sharpness of flavors from the lemon juice; a nutty crunch from the toasted sesame seeds; and an unexpected freshness from the parsley.  The pepper flavor of the arugula was also muted nicely by the lemon juice and olive oil.  This salad would be a great, healthy summer side for a party so I can see myself improvising it again!

Madhur Jaffrey's Quinoa Upma - Similar to Steel Cut Oats Upma, Not as Good as the Original

Similar to Madhur Jaffrey's Instant Pot Mung Dal with Spinach, I learned a lot about the Instant Pot itself when I made her Quinoa Upma or Quinoa with Tomatoes recipe.  I had never used the "rice" setting before, nor had I cooked quinoa in the Instant Pot before.  

Both turned out really well, so those are lessons that I will carry into the future (along with the 1.5 water to quinoa ratio for the Instant Pot rice setting).  

However, the final dish itself felt like it had some elements missing - similar to the Steel Cut Oats Upma I made a few years ago.  In both, I didn't include curry leaves, which may have been the key omission, and Jaffrey's recipe also called for the inclusion of mint as well, which I didn't have on hand.  

The recipe could have also benefited from more salt and a more thorough washing of the quinoa.  I definitely did not wash the quinoa sufficiently to remove the bitterness from the grains.

In short, this recipe is good for a decent breakfast or brunch side with a slight spiced tomato flavor coming through and the grains cooked perfectly, but it lacks the depth of flavors to really carry a meal on its own.  I'll report back if I find the modifications that can make this dish the star it should be!

Improvised (Simplified) Curtido - A Salvadoran Coleslaw

Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian continues to be my go-to cookbook for leftover vegetable and beans, so I immediately knew where to turn for some leftover green cabbage from an Indian stir fry.  

I settled on the book's curtido recipe, a Salvadoran-style coleslaw that I thought could work despite my lack of iceberg lettuce and carrots, which were included in Jaffrey's version.  A good approximation of Jaffrey's recipe can be found on Serious Eats.

Given that the cabbage I had on hand didn't fit Jaffrey's proportions, I didn't bother to measure the remaining ingredients.  I just added them to taste - red wine vinegar, oregano, cayenne, and olive oil.  

I then immediately started eating the curtido before letting the remainder rest in the fridge for another hour or so. 

While the freshness of the cabbage, combined with the sharpness of the vinegar, made it a tasty, crunchy snack, the oregano and other flavors weren't that compelling to have us keep returning to it.  Instead, we quickly lost interest in the curtido after the first day and ended up throwing away the leftovers :-(  So this might be a good vegan side to a larger summertime meal, but not a dish to stand on it's own.

A More Substantive and Comforting Vegetable Noodle Soup

I recently blanched and froze a lot of celery to use in soups, red beans and rice, and other stew-type dishes.  My first use of this frozen celery was in an updated version of the homemade vegan noodle soup that I've been perfecting over the years.  The key updates I made were adding in some Instant Pot-cooked chickpeas and a bit of turmeric, inspired by a Cookies and Kate recipe.  

This revised recipe was really fantastic - the light carrot, celery, and parsley flavors that one expects in a vegetable or chicken noodle soup, with a lot more substance from the added chickpeas.  This really was a great, comforting one-pot meal, though I couldn't help but serve it with some homemade bread as well :-)  Recipe follows the pictures of the final products.

Homemade Vegan Noodle Soup, v3

Approximately 3 - 4 main course servings

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 3 carrots, chopped into 1/4 inch cubes
• 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup chopped (frozen) celery
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1/4 tsp salt, more to taste
• 1/2 cup dried chickpeas, cooked (or 1 can of cooked chickpeas)
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 6 cups water
• 4 tbsp. Better than Bouillon, any flavor you prefer
• 3 tbsp. parsley, minced
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup tiny pasta
• Fresh lemon juice, to taste
• Black pepper, to taste
• Parmesan, grated to taste

Directions:

• Heat oil in a soup pot on medium-high heat, and when hot, add the vegetables and salt.  Cook down for approximately 10 minutes or until the vegetables just start to brown
• Add chickpeas, bay leaf, turmeric, water, and Better than Bouillon, and raise heat to high to bring contents to a boil
• When the soup is boiling, add in the pasta and cook according to package directions
• Finish by seasoning with parsley, salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste.  Add grated parmesan cheese if desired
• Serve immediately